There's no denying that the music industry is as huge and as far reaching as it has ever been, despite the changes to the way the fans buy the music produced by their favorite artists.

Musicians who get into popular music are also as popular now as they were 50 or more years ago. The instrument of choice for so many new musicians in this arena is still the guitar, but like anything a guitar is no use to anyone unless they can play it!

That's where getting lessons so you can learn to play guitar come in as a vital component of any aspiring axe-man or axe-woman who wants to be a part of this incredibly exciting industry. But what kind of tuition can you get these days and what should you come to expect to achieve from learning the fascinating art of guitar playing?

Choosing Your Field

Not all guitar playing involves shredding millions of notes per minute on a heavy metal axe plugged into a manically distorted amp screaming at its highest volume output. There are many different styles to be taken into account and your ultimate choice will of course depend on your favorite style of music.

Many new guitarists go for the popular clean rhythm and lead style that can be heard on many chart songs and a variety of TV and movie theme tunes. An electric guitar is often regarded as they easiest type to play as with this type of guitar the strings are thinner and easier to manage, while the amplified sound allows some latitude in fingering placement making for good sounding chord work without having to stretch the fingers too far.

While on the other hand others prefer to go with an acoustic instrument and the style of playing that can include popular styles as well as classical, blues, bluegrass or Latino styles such as flamenco.

Playing in a Band

The ultimate aim of most every guitarist is to join or form their own band to get out into bars and clubs and play live in front of real people. For anyone standing on the outside looking in, this seems to be a pretty easy thing to do, but things are not always quite what they seem.

Sure anyone with a basic playing ability can join a band and start playing songs in front of people, but if you want those people to enjoy and appreciate you work, you have to display a very good level of playing ability as well as being able to work together with other musicians. There is nothing more irritating to drummers, keyboardists and bass guitarists than standing around waiting for an inexperienced guitarist to stop "widdling" away at a load of incomprehensible nonsense so they can get started learning and playing real songs!

Team Work

Playing as a team with other members of a group is something that will only come with lots of practice. It also requires a bit of humility and give and take, because you really need to fit into the group unit as a team player and not be an individual prima donna. Even if you have attained immense playing skill, if you can't get on with the other members of the group, you could find yourself in for a very long and lonely musical career.

So to be a great guitarist, which is what ever newcomer to the instrument should aspire to become, you need to get the best education in the form of tuition from a professional; practice long and hard and learn to be a team player. Then you will likely go far and enjoy the ride along the way.